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Meteor
"Iz not to be ztopping v'or rain, nor zleet, nor znow...And ZERTAINLY not v'or 'oo eit'er! Out my v'ay gettink!" 'Kaporal' Meteor is a rather large pegasus -- approaching the large end of the earth-pony size range, and a relatively brawny individual, but with the sort of musculature one might expect from a combination of good genes and constant, strenuous exertion rather than deliberately attempting to build bulk. Her hide is a warm grey with hints of rose, something like the tone of sunset's last fading light on the clouds, and her mane and tail are rich yellow-gold shading to orange, which helps the comparison a little. They are usually kept in thick braids, which in Stalliongrad is mandatory among on-duty Militsiya. In the field she wears what at a distance looks like Militsiya-issue, munitions-grade pegasus gear: a buff jack and crestless lobstertail helm, with shank-guards and folding light foreblades strapped over her hooves -- but at close range there's a gleam of very polished mail beneath her jack and it's obvious from the detailed engraving and careful smithing that her shank-guards and foreblades are far better quality stuff than armory-issue. She usually carries courier's saddlebags (again, standard issue), and a quiver of very finely-tooled leather is strapped across her withers, with the tooth-marked hafts of several javelins and lighter darts protruding from it. History Fire Whirl was an old hoof on the Stalliongrad weather squad and something of a confirmed bachelorette, so it was something of a surprise when the middle-aged mare 'started to show'. Even more surprising -- at least to ponies who didn't know her well -- she wasn't entirely sure of the father. However, by the middle of the second trimester, Fire Whirl was uncomfortably sure and unusually vocal about her missing lover. The normally active weather pony was more than a little irritated at being 'grounded early' and was overheard to grumble more than once about 'that damned wandering earth pony!'. She did a lot more than grumble about him during the birth, a strenuous experience that certain Stalliongrad healers and midwives talk about to this day, as both mother and daughter gave the available healing magic quite a run for its money. Meteor came out well enough in the end, but Fire Whirl has been on light duty ever since, much to the aging mare's displeasure. Meteor still has no idea who her father really is, but she certainly knows she inherited a lot from him. The pegasus was never 'a small child'. A gangly, tall, just all-around large filly who devoted a great deal of her attention to not stepping on other foals' hooves -- even to this day she 'walks like a drafty', treating the world around her as if it were fragile, always conscious and cautious about where she puts her hooves down. Teased constantly about her size as a a young filly, Meteor rarely fought back, but absorbed an almost disturbing amount of punishment without more than minor bruising. Enough so that on those rare occasions when she did strike back it almost invariably ended the altercation not due to the damage she did (her mother drilled caution about her size into her from an early age), but simply because few of the other foals relished the idea of fighting someone who their own kicks and nips didn't seem to affect'(1)'. Things really came to a head once the other young pegasi started growing in their primary fletching and stretching their wings -- Meteor's musculature bulked up seemingly everywhere except her wings, and she was the last foal in her class to achieve flight. To her mother's frustration, the young pegasus constantly came home from flight school worn out and was grounded more than once with wingsprain. Meteor eventually learned to milk the air around her for every bit of energy she could, whether it was finding a good tailwind or an updraft that would let her ascend without much effort to a height from which she could execute a lengthy glide. As a result, she's become very good at long-range, endurance flying -- and a powerful, if not fast, flyer once the musculature she inherited from her father finally started to manifest in her pinions instead of just being more drag and bulk. Given her size, she was gently encouraged by her teachers at the flight school to apply to the Stalliongrad Militsiya, and -- imagining that she could make a powerful (albeit perhaps not adroit) aerial fighter -- she signed up. The result was initially disastrous: while she was fairly large and strong, she wasn't as tough as initially hoped -- she had inherited her father's bone structure and musculature, but her mother's hollow bones. She could dive on targets like a falling sledgehammer, and could shrug off a fair bit of light abuse, but really hard hits tended to affect her, well, really hard'(1)'. In short order, she was shifted into training as a scout...A not uncommon role for pegasi who had trouble with the tight maneuvering needed for teamwork in aerial combat. Meteor rather enjoyed the training and travel involved in scouting around the perimeter of the Stalliongrad Militsiyas reach, particularly the thrill of scouting the edges of the griffon and dragon-lands out beyond Bridle. Unfortunately, her enthusiasm waned a bit once she was out on her own without an instructor. In her second winter with the Militsiya, there was a bit of an issue with griffon encroachments which quickly escalated to become everything but an officially declared war (referred to in Canterlot as 'The Stalliongrad Incident' and in Stalliongrad as 'The False War'). The local guard arose to the occasion with rather more enthusiasm than Canterlot might have preferred, and before word had even reached the capitol, multiple Stalliongrad forces had gone over the border on the offensive. Meteor and two other scouts were working with a contingent of earth ponies and unicorns when the whole ensemble got cut off from support by a cleverly-timed move on the part of the griffons. The other two scouts, who were considerably faster in the air than Meteor, were sent off to try and get help from nearby Bridle, but after a week passed without result (making it sadly apparent that the couriers had been intercepted), Meteor was given a copy of the rather more desperate call for help. She plowed through no less than four griffon attempts to intercept her, telling herself with every wingbeat that she could not stop, would not stop, and literally ramming several of her attackers out of the air. The young pegasus mare arrived in Bridle battered, bloodied, exhausted and barely flying...And also with a cutie mark that she didn't even realize she had until she returned to the regiment (the folk of Bridle had no idea that it was new). While lines were opened and orders to stand down came from both nations' administration, Meteor found herself shuffled by repple-depple out of her old position, breveted to Kaporal'(2)'(later confirmed) and reassigned to be a field-courier. The Courier squadron tended to employ mostly the fastest pegasi, but had long recognized that there are times when the ability to fight through foul weather or opposition is more desireable -- reliability over speed, and Meteor's performance fit this profile very well. This is the position she has held for the last three years, running messages and special packets back and forth between elements of the Militsiya and occasionally making long range runs to Canterlot with official reports -- it is a position which she has actively enjoyed, and in her spare time she continues to update her maps. With the recent lack of conflict around Stalliongrad -- and as a response to the fiasco of three years ago when the Militsiya acted without confirmation from the city council or Canterlot -- the city council of Stalliongrad has begun reducing the active Militsiya. Due to this reduction, Meteor has spent the last half-year "in reserve," only occasionally being called up for military courier runs. She has been making ends meet by flying as a courier, doing surveys for frontier settlers near the Wildlands around Bridle and Stalliongrad, some map-making, and local deliveries when she could get them. Unfortunately, most local courier jobs tend to go to the quick rather than the stubborn, even if the stubborn have Militsiya commendations and experience as a military courier, so she has had to rove further and further afield, taking longer and longer range or more and more difficult jobs...Some of which have been a little peculiar. Probably the most peculiar of these was the culmination of a series of somewhat fishy deliveries she ended up making between Canterlot and Stalliongrad: there was some uncomfortable discussion in front of her about how unlikely it was that either the Guard or the Stalliongrad Politsiya would inconvenience a bona-fide war hero, and there was far too much emphasis on the fact that she only carried the packages, she never opened the packages -- something that made her roll her eyes, as any courier, military or civil, who messes with client's possessions will be out of work for long -- but the pay was awesome. The thing is, Meteor was almost certain that the people she was dealing with were Organizatsiya(3), criminals of some sort, particularly when she was informed that she might run into people intent on stealing what she carried. This prediction came true the fifth time she carried anything for them, but true to form she left a trio of bruised, hooded pegasi behind her and made her delivery. And hey, the money was good...Good enough for new custom foreblades, for enchantments, for all the little luxuries... ...And that was how she got herself into trouble, really. Not that anyone ever came looking for her personally, but she was sure it might happen. No, actually the problem was the pay, the bonus, the little luxury she couldn't turn down. Her employer was so happy that she made the delivery in spite of being attacked that he offered her a really magnificent skymetal barding 'to keep her safe, since she was such a good employee'. And without thinking twice, she happily accepted it. It was similar enough to the custom armor that some of the officers with more moneyed families wore that she could pass it off on duty -- as light as a dream and certainly much stronger than the munitions-grade mail shirt she'd been issued. The problem was that whole word 'employee', particularly since after she had accepted it, there had been gentle suggestions that it was not simply a reward, but also 'advance payment' and a few more 'special' deliveries would be required before she really had 'earned' it. ...All of which made it really attractive to have to leave Stalliongrad to make a Militsiya delivery to Canterlot, and to be there for a little while TDY waiting for a response. = 1) Seemed to fit nicely with her peculiar combination of DR (from Brawny) and below-average hit points. 2) капрал, or Corporal 3) организация, or Organization...Yep, it's one of the many words the Russians use for 'Mafia' (they also use мафия which transliterates to mafiya, from the Italian, amusingly enough) (And now I will stop tormenting you with my poor knowledge of Russian.) Personality Meteor is a little shy behind the bravado she shows on the job, and a little unsure of how to deal with people she doesn't know outside of her work, but can be warmly friendly once she feels she isn't going to be given any grief. She's constantly nervous about criticism, particularly related to her size or ability to fly (It's an open secret among her comrades that her speed doubled after she got those shiny horseshoes -- plenty of the couriers wear them -- but it's the sort of thing she'd be horribly embarrassed by if it were mentioned). Meteor tries to hide her insecurity but she's not the fastest flying mare out there and she knows it. Meteor doesn't like to be told that she's not capable of doing things, and as a foal was easily teased into trying to do things that were effectively impossible, then not giving up until she either injured herself or an adult came along and stopped her (aaaall those wingsprains). Even as an adult, she's not difficult to get a rise out of, and once she determines she's going to do something she's somewhat hard to persuade out of it, and unlikely to back down even when she realizes internally that it may be a bad idea. Cutie Mark Her cutie mark is a black-cored fireball with a pale shockwave at its tip -- and I'm sort of at a loss defining it, I'm associating it with stubborness, determination, tenaciousness -- a does-not-stop-for-anything sort of mentality. In game effect, where appropriate, it's a +1 to save vs. Fear, and does not apply to her Claustrophobia. Stat Block Female Neutral Good Pegasus Ranger 2/Rogue 4, Level 2/4, Init +3, HP 29/29, DR 2/-, Speed 60 AC 18, Touch 13, Flat-footed 15, Fort +5, Ref +10, Will +1, Base Attack Bonus 5 MWK Light Foreblade +9(-2)=+7 (1d6+4, 19-20/x2) MWK Light Foreblade +9(-2)=+7 (1d6+2, 19-20/x2) Dart (60) +8 (1d4+3, x2) Javelin (18) +8 (1d6+3, x2) Abilities Str 17, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 12 Condition None http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/lists/feats http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/UA:Rogue_Variant Category:PCs